EXCLUSIVE: After weeks of checking out rumor after rumor, I’m finally able to pin down details of the long-overdue shakeup that’s ahead for NBC when this fall’s primetime schedule shapes up to be an unmitigated disaster. Someone has to shoulder the responsibility, and both Ben Silverman and the Reveille development exec he brought with him to NBC, Teri Weinberg, now deservedly have big fat targets on their foreheads. Staying in charge will be Marc Graboff and Katherine Pope who both have been trying to keep NBC up and running while Weinberg continually fucks up and Silverman regularly goes AWOL. For instance, last Thursday was Ben’s first day in the office all month after attending the Beijing Olympics and guesting aboard Elisabeth Murdoch’s yacht. (Elisabeth’s Shine Group bought Ben’s Reveille productions which put $60+ million directly into his pocket). But a pressing issue has been Silverman’s partying ways, especially his excessive off-hours drinking and drug-taking, which has not only been visible to but also prompted complaints from Hollywood’s TV community. “When he’s around, he is totally engaged and focused and not in an altered state of consciousness. But that’s when he’s around. Literally, he has not been around from August 1st until August 28th, and you can’t run a network programming group and not be around for the month of August,” an insider tells me. So NBC is faced with two personnel problems simultaneously: Weinberg and Silverman.

Back in May 2007, I broke the story that NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker was unceremoniously firing NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly, and surprisingly hiring Silverman to be partnered with Graboff as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio. It was a very risky move by Zucker, not helped by his cluelessness about Silverman’s drug and alcohol habits until it became a real question whether Ben could pass the mandatory corporate drug test for prospectve employees. But TV circles were just as confounded a week later when I scooped that Ben had hired his Reveille gal Teri Weinberg to be the new EVP of NBC Entertainment. She had been his glorified gofer until just a few years ago, then his Reveille development exec (and held other titles, like his co-exec producer on Ugly Betty). Now she was in charge of comedy, drama and everything below Silverman and Graboff at NBC Entertainment. At the time, Weinberg’s appointment was seen as a major mistake because she wasn’t ready for such a major gig. She also was described to me as a “world-class prima donna” – and, from the sound of things, she has lived up to that reputation.

I’m told by insiders that Weinberg has been a train wreck, and it shows in this fall’s terrible slate which bears her first imprint. “With Ben not involved in the day-to-day, Terry was too inexperienced to be thrown into the deep end of running a broadcast network with no experience. Yet Ben kept delegating it all to her. It became a huge, huge job, which she’s just not qualified for,” one insider explained to me. “I feel sorry for her. She’s just in over head.”

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Weinberg’s contract concludes next summer. But it’s clear that NBC is now building a case to get rid of her. Last week, NBC took the unusual, almost unprecedented, step of cancelling an exclusive contract for a team of TV writer/producers, paying them off to the tune of millions of dollars, and letting them take back every one of their projects developed at the network. The reason is because one of the showrunners was Weinberg’s live-in boyfriend.

Here’s what I’ve been told by several knowledgeable sources: It’s not that Mark Abrams and Michael Benson weren’t qualified. They’d been writer-producers on both The Bernie Mac Show and Entourage. So that wasn’t an issue when Weinberg secured for them an exclusive multimillionaire overall deal at NBC. (This was far from the only insider dealing at NBC since Silverman himself kept buying Reveille shows for his network.) But Weinberg was specifically warned not to get involved in their business because of the personal relationship. Yet insiders tell me she did again and again (especially with their pilot Zip, which was shot and reshot at exorbitant cost). It got to the point that complaints came in from the TV community.

“Teri just couldn’t stay out of their business even though NBC had instructed her for months and months and months to do so,” one insider informs me. “Other TV writer/producers began assuming that every decision Teri made was influenced by her relationship with her boyfriend’s company. If she didn’t buy something of theirs, they complained she was protecting her boyfriend’s pitch. The truth is that this appearance of a conflict was really starting to hurt NBC’s business.” Echoed another source: “NBC couldn’t deal with the conflict of interest anymore, so Zucker told Graboff to terminate the deal. And the network last week wrote a fat check for the whole amount of the contract even though it still had a year and a half to go, and they gave the guys all their projects back which they’re now free to shop.”

The result is that this lack of judgment, combined with this fall’s weak schedule, has put Weinberg’s head on the chopping block. Especially because her mentor Silverman won’t be around much longer to protect her.

Up to now, it’s been only Silverman’s salesmanship, not his executive or programming skills (and certainly not his childish stunts like reviving the NBC chimes), that has helped the 4th place network. I’m told NBC was impressed that his relationships with advertisers put “several hundred millions of dollars” of additional revenue into the network’s 2008/2009 upfront sales. But that doesn’t offset the fact that Silverman is widely seen as a major disappointment. “If only NBC could take the good of Ben and ignore the bad of Ben,” one insider tells me.

The laundry list of Silverman’s faults reached critical mass after Ben began negotiating to sell Reveille and knew he would soon have the proverbial “fuck-you money” to tell Zucker et al to take the NBC job and shove it. The whispers about Silverman’s off-duty behavior became loud chatter when he was drunk and disorderly at this year’s SuperBowl where he notoriously made a fool of himself with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That capped a period during which Ben began missing meetings and cancelling appointments and forgetting callbacks because of too many late nights where he had partied hearty. For some time, Endeavor talent agency owner Ari Emanuel had been counseling his pal to tone down this over-the-top behavior — even last spring when both men were attending a cancer benefit dinner where Silverman was widely observed “high as a kite”. During the fundraiser, Emanuel reminded Silverman that scheduled the very next morning was a big meeting about an important piece of Marvel Studios business between Endeavor and NBC, and Ari warned Ben not to be late. But the next day, Silverman was a no-show. Though Endeavor does 75% of its TV business with NBC, Emanuel didn’t hesitate to complain directly to Zucker — and the conversation focused on Silverman’s over-indulgence of alcohol and drugs. Alarmed, Zucker instructed Universal boss Ron Meyer to determine if Silverman still wanted to work at NBC. As it happened, Meyer took Silverman to lunch at the studio at the same time Emanuel was there with Uni film chief Marc Shmuger. In full view of everyone, a shouting match ensued: Ben belligerently blamed Ari for getting him in trouble with his boss, and Ari aggressively shot back that it was justified, and neither man backed down. Meanwhile, at lunch with Meyer, Silverman said he wasn’t interested in quitting despite his new-found fortune. So Meyer reported back to Zucker that Ben claimed to still want to be onboard. Silverman by all accounts shaped up and buckled down for weeks after. But then his work ethic became erratic again.

To be fair to Silverman, attending the Beijing Olympics was a command performance for all NBC and GE brass. But almost every other top TV executive would have hurried back after a week, tops, to supervise production of the fall schedule especially at a network where the new shows are already having problems before they’re even on the air. There’s general agreement that the one NBC scripted show which looks good is Kings, and the rest are going to be ratings disasters. It’s thought to be the result of NBC forgoing pilot season and instead announcing series off scripts. Adding to this notion that the network’s primetime is in creative freefall are repeated reshoots (like on Kath & Kim, the U.S. knockoff of the Aussie sitcom) and showrunners stepping down or pushed aside (like on My Own Worst Enemy, the Christian Slater series), none of which ever bodes well. That Silverman chose to stay away despite all this speaks volumes about his lack of commitment to his job. And that he was vacationing with Elizabeth Murdoch was like a shout-out to the TV community that he’s looking for a graceful way out.

I’m told that NBC is hoping that Silverman jumps before he is pushed. And several sources have information to believe there is every reason that Ben is a short-timer. His contract, like Weinberg’s, expires next summer. But already Ben’s posse is letting it be known that he may start negotiating his out with an eye to exiting before December. His reasoning, according to insiders, is that, if by some miracle this fall’s primetime schedule succeeds, he’d like to go out “a hero”. And if it tanks, he doesn’t want to go out “a failure” and get fired. However, office morale slumped on Thursday when Silverman returned after a month away and kept giddily telling everyone how newly “engaged” he feels. What a ridiculous statement and sentiment, only underscoring how wrong for the gig Ben really is.

One faction at NBC believes that, after Silverman and Weinberg exit, there may be no need to bring in new people because the existing network/studio team of Katharine Pope, Katie O’Connell, Jeff Ingold, and Erin Gough (as well as the team under them) is “rock solid”. However, others believe USA Networks chief Bonnie Hammer would be a good leader if she’d even take the job. There’s also talk that Zucker should put the entire NBC Universal entertainment unit under the administration of Ron Meyer, who after all has both a movie and TV background and was originally hired as prez/COO of Universal Studios to be in charge of both.

As for Silverman’s future, pals expect him to partner with Elisabeth Murdoch or, somewhat more unlikely, his best friend Ryan Seacrest. (Ben was providing exclusive but asinine live reports from the Beijing Olympics for Ryan’s syndicated Los Angeles-based morning radio show…) It doesn’t really matter what Silverman does as long as he quits sooner rather than later. Because Jeff Zucker isn’t man enough to admit a huge mistake and fire him.

110 Comments

Zucker should lose his job. Talk about someone who continues to fail upward! He didn’t see this coming?!?

Zed • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

Awesome. This is the best thing ever. I am getting so much perverse joy reading!

vidzblog • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

Whats his drug of choice? Is he a coke man?

Jason • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

This is a major slap in the face to people who work hard and take this business seriously.

savvydude • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

The continued downward spiral of NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports and MSNBC demands that GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt resign. GE stock is at record lows, they continue to do business with Iran and their entertainment devisions are pathetic.

With Immelt gone, Zucker would have no protection and maybe, just maybe, a complete house cleaning would bring the proud peacock back “in living color”. From LA Law to Hill Street Blues to Cheers, Wings and Seinfeld, NBC has a legacy of quality that could be built upon once again. But to do that requires adults with vision, excitement and commitment. Zucker and Silverman have none of those qualities.

Concerned • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

We should all be concerned. This isnt a joke. Silverman’s temporary stewardship, and Jeff Zucker’s near decade of destruction, has almost killed the institution of NBC. Sure, NBC Universal and GE’s profits are up. The cable business has grown tremendously; but there was no need for that growth to be at the expense of the network. NBC has the smallest roster of writers, the worst bench of producers, the strangest development process, and a schedule anchored by shows that have been around for 15 years (ER, LAW AND ORDER x 3).

They need to clean house, hire some people that focus 100% on quality, Emmy-caliber programming. Kevin Reilly had moved them in that direction. Katherine Pope is excellent and should be empowered. Katie O’Connell is pushing thru product despite her ridiculous bosses. Support those two with some strong business people (Graboff?) and let them rebuild the relationships with Warner Bros, Touchstone, Twentieth, and others that Ben has quickly destroyed.

Use this opportunity to fight back the easy, empty-calorie diet of reality shows and stunts. As HBO proved over the years, if you put quality product on the air, the audience will reward you for it. GREYS, CSI, HOUSE, LOST … these are highly rated and top quality programs. NBC was known for that, but with the exception of 2 comedies and one upcoming drama, they have an emptiness that is palpable.

Those of us that love TV need NBC to work. We’re down to 4 real broadcasters … the failure of this network would be doomsday for big budget dramas and comedies and backends and making a living in the tv biz.

so, please fire him. and maybe zucker too.

Caleb Friedman • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

How come Ben’s always the devil and Zucker always gets a free pass, especially when most journalists know better?

Lorne • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

This is ridiculous.

NBC Primetime has been a disaster since Jeff got involved and then got promoted out of that job.

The problem is not Ben, it’s Jeff. It’s always been Jeff.

He doesn’t know what to do to fix the problems and he doesn’t know who to hire to fix them. The only thing Jeff knows is that it’s best if Jeff stays forever – or until Jeff wants to leave. In Jeff’s mind, YOU leave, YOU quit. Jeff stays.

He’s a great talker. He has great ideas. A great person to be friends with. A great family man. You can listen to Jeff talk for hours. Jeff is awesome.

But Jeff is not a great person to run your entertainment company. You can talk to Jeff and walk away believing anything – and it’s always that it’s not Jeff’s fault. Or if it is Jeff’s fault, how great is Jeff for admitting it?

The fish rots at the head, and these developments show really dysfunctional management at NBC at almost all of the top levels.

I don’t see Elisabeth Murdoch partnering with Silverman, she strikes me as a shrewd, and able businesswoman, especially with the way her Shine Group has grown so large, so quickly. She might use him in a “sales” position, but I doubt she’d have someone with his alleged habits as a partner or in any position of real responsibility.

A Seacrest partnership might happen, but that might finally sink the Seacrest ship.

I think it would probably be best for everyone if he takes his $60 million and retire.

velveeta • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

NBC should be so lucky to get Bonnie Hammer, who is a really solid, sane executive. For her sake, I almost hope she just stays at USA.

Sorry to say, I am loving this Silverman implosion. Does the problem extend beyond him? Yeah, sure. It has long mystified me that Zucker keeps his job. (I think he’s actually a decent guy as a person. Which is rare for people at his level. But at the same time, I don’t think he’s a good fit for TV decision-making at that same level.)

However, to be fair to Zucker, Silverman is awful at his job. Just awful. No matter how hard you think you rock, there’s a point when even Hollywood needs you to show up sober and ready to work instead of douching it up on the party circuit.

I never understood why on earth you’d think that replacing Kevin Reilly with Silverman was a good move. I’m appalled that Silverman has continued to fail upward. Even if he’s reached the end of the line, 60 mil buys you a lot of strawberry-flavored coke to retire on.

They would never hire Bonnie Hammer – she’s too normal. I have always thought it was a pity that Bonnie Hammer doesn’t run the CW – she would’ve been great.

Just curious • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

What’s the buzz on NBC’s new show KINGS which is supposed to air in February? The pilot is done and a portion of it was shown at Comic Con…

NBCSUX • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

I was looking forward to seeing the series premieres of My Own Worst Enemy, Kath & Kim, Crusoe, and Knight Rider at the NBC Fall Preview Party next week at the Paley Center. But they must really suck as they just did a last minute lineup change and are now showing the season premieres of Chuck, Life, and Lipstick Jungle instead. It’s pretty sad when you don’t actually have any new shows to show during a fall preview event.

Tom • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

Zucker is the real problem there, that he hired another putz in Silverman is not surprising. That Zucker renewed Kevin Reilly’s contract while secretly negotiating with Silverman is disgusting but not surprising. That Zucker thought Silverman was better than Reilly shows how clueless Zucker really was and is, it continues to amaze that the GE execs haven’t figured any of this out.

withheld • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

this is what happens when a guy with a penis for a head rises to the top.

At least in off Broadway you can sleep with whomever you want and no one really cares as long as the show makes money.

NBC’s lineup

As for programming. Maybe NBC should go back to radio shows. Like Burns and Allen. I hear Seinfield is doing commercials so they can’t revive that show.
Oy.

Why everyone learned nothing doing the writer’s strike

Theirs no business like show business. I can’t even get an interview let alone a pitch deal like these guys did. Buy back who the hell would do a buy back, don’t they have a morality escape clause in their 100 page contracts. Further I thought they weren’t developing for TV any more, just doing more reality shows.

Women who help out their men.

Maybe I should hang out at better coffee shops and keep and eye on the suits instead of the bikini top girls.

Santayana • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

While we’re all passing around that saucer of milk, can we at least congratulate Nikki Finke for remarkable reporting and analysis? Not only has she clearly cultivated multiple inside sources, but she’s tracked, developed, and written a story that has drawn, as I type this, 17 supportive comments and no disputes — and on a holiday weekend.

James Lipton • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

I wonder if the new boss will hit the hold button on Conan and keep Leno. It’s bad enough they let Scrubs get away. Just kidding about Scrubs.

Robert • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

Abrams and Benson… the Paris Hilton and Ryan Seacrest of the writing community.

Deets • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

At least Ben has that “Entourage” guest spot to fall back on.

I mean, if that didn’t speak volumes…

strike you're out • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

Holly shit, Nikki. That’s a story.

P. Lee • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

USA has been corrupted into NBC Lite and Sci fi Channel has been even further corrupted now that metrics have been abandoned:

Wrestling, “reality” shows, and fantasy on Sci fi Channel!?! Read any talkbalk/comments re: Sci fi Channel and learn of the fanbase fury. Scorning the fanbase while attempting to reach a wider out-of-genre base is ridiculous…And NBC is failing at both: That is the current state of the NBC Cable.

Remember what is happening to Fox re: Watchmen.

Now you propose to have their leadership lead the broadcast ship? How difficult is it to put reality or a procedural or any other repurposed program and squeeze out viewership? There is a reason Peter Liguori is at the head of Fox while others in cable stay in cable. You have to take risks in order to find success and that is rare commodity at GE/NBC.

Personally, I am glad GE/NBC is suffering. Back when I was at Universal we were at the top of the game but after GE/NBC took over we all were swept out.

Karma is a bitch and I hope NBC’s advertisers recognize how pathetic your programming schedule iu and you choke on the givebacks.

IOnlyWatchNBConMondays • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

just a regular tv watcher here: anyone who’s in charge of finding a decent show to put on after Heroes on Monday nights for *3 years* and can’t do it. whoever that is, they need to get fired.

Amazed • on Aug 31, 2008 2:59 pm

I’m in awe of what’s happening with this site. It is widely read, and it prints the kinds of stories that make the behind-the-scenes people in this town (and the in-front-of-the-scenes people for that matter) accountable for their hideous behavior. I know for a fact that a hugely powerful woman who was slammed on DHD a few weeks ago was furious about the incriminating stories and ensuing unflattering comments about her (they were all true, FYI). Apparently, she called it a wash because she thought the picture of her Nikki posted was good. Deluded and hilarious. The big point is, the kind of stories that were only whispered about before are now on the record. It’s amazing. The high and mighty have to be a lot more careful these days — most of them are rich and will always be rich, but they can’t bully their way to good public perceptions anymore. Bravo. Just make sure to use this power responsibly, Nikki, because it’s also obviously true that false stories about good people are seeded among the true stuff…